


Undertale X Reader One-Shots

by Voice_of_Mischief



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: One-Shots, by that I mean it's long, first one is a doozy let me tell ya, prompts and suggestions welcome, undertale X reader oneshots, will add tags as they apply
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-08
Updated: 2016-10-07
Packaged: 2018-08-20 03:49:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8235071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Voice_of_Mischief/pseuds/Voice_of_Mischief
Summary: One shots. Undertale characters love you. Or Undertale AU characters, I don't fuckign know. Suggestions nd prompts and whatever else are welcome.





	1. Before we begin,

This series will be of mostly unconnected one shots, unless someone requests a sequel to one and I see potential there. This is the place where I dump ideas that won't leave me alone but aren't long enough to be stretched out over enough chapters to be their own fic. Please be kind to me I am but a delicate human bean

You can:  
\- give suggestions/ prompts/ ideas  
\- give constructive criticism   
\- fangirl/boy the fuck out if you want to  
\- request a character (if you do this, please also consider giving a scenario you'd like to see, I love when folks do that, makes it heck of a lot easier honestly)

Things I won't do:  
\- nsfw, generally speaking  
\- uh  
\- that's about it honestly 

Anyway uh I'll probably be really inconsistent with my posting schedule since I have like five hundred other fics to complete atm so be kind pls

Anyway I love y'all and I hope you're having a good night


	2. One-Shot: The ninth human

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- Post King Papyrus ending  
>  \- reader is gender neutral  
>  \- mentions of suicide, generally dark themes  
>  \- starts slow, more friendship than romance

You had always liked the snow. And down here, it seemed there was an abundance of the stuff.

You had fallen down a hole in the mountain whilst searching. You'd heard the rumors, of course; - Those who climbed Mt. Ebott never returned, save for one- perhaps that was why you had climbed it. Perhaps not. Your memory was failing you a bit. You had hit your head in the flower patch, after all. You remembered your name, what you'd been looking for, and where you were. The details were either fuzzy or perhaps some part of you didn't wish to recall them. 

There wasn't much reason to remember now, anyway. Wasn't much reason for anything. You were filled with an emotional numb. Not hollow, not really. More of a calm, senseless buzz that left you oddly accepting of the things you'd come across so far.

The monsters in the ruins were quiet as you passed. Most of them just sort of stood there and stared. A ferocious, aggressive few had lunged out at you. If you were quick enough on your feet, you could escape unscathed. If not, a few verbal manipulations of the playing field were enough to let you get passed without having to hurt anyone.

Monsters were strange, you decided. Strange, but not altogether unkind. You liked their quirkiness.

There had been an empty house at the end of the ruins. It seemed someone had lived in it recently, but no one was home. The door in the basement, preceded with a small patch of golden flowers growing amidst a small pile of dust, had seemed the most promising way to escape. 

When you had seen nothing but more cavern on the other side- this time cold and snowy, as you so liked it- you had come to the conclusion that wasn't a way out, and resigned yourself to a fate locked underground.

At the very least, it wouldn't be so bad if there was snow everywhere. 

The cold, crisp air was so refreshing. You were lucky it had been chilly on the surface; your winter gear was serving you well here. You pulled your scarf high around your face as the wind nipped gently at your cheeks. You smiled, though it was more of an automatic response than a gleeful one. 

You fished your gloves out of a pocket and slipped them on. You stooped and balled up the snow with both hands, packing it tightly. You smoothed it slowly, then turned and threw it softly at a bush. It struck something amongst the leaves. Blankly curious, you stepped closer and gingerly pushed the branches aside.

A camera?

Upon trying to pick it up, you realized it was loosely fixed in place. You frowned softly, confused, then shrugged and stepped away. It looked like it hadn't been tended to in a while. It was probably nothing to worry about. 

You tried to blow steamy rings in the air. You tapped branches and chuckled as the snow fell from them in soft little dustings. You plucked an icicle off one and gave it an experimental lick, then snapped off a small bit and crunched it pleasantly. You drew long, winding lines in the snow with sticks. You stooped and picked up a bit of snow and worked it for a while, eventually giving it icicle legs and trying to work out how to give it a tail.

You were contemplating its small, pointed ears when color at the edge of your vision caught your attention. You glanced up from your stiff, crouched position to realize you were several yards away from a bridge of some sort. Standing on the bridge was a... skeleton? They were clad in a blue hoodie, hood drawn up over their head. The small, white flickers of light in their sockets seemed to shift over you. They stared. You stared back. Dark shadows were settled beneath their sockets, and the smile on their face seemed permanently etched in place, but they didn't seem unfriendly. In fact, they almost seemed melancholic.

After a moment, they dipped their head as if to say 'carry on.' You felt only vaguely self conscious as you sniffed once before turn back to your little snow dog. It was as if all the cares in the world had drained out of you like water from an overflowing sink.

Once it was done, you gently brushed snow from a tree stump nearby and gingerly propped it up there. You hovered a hand over it a moment, willing it to stay together, then turned away and scooped up more snow. 

You weren't sure how much time you spent there, crouched in the cold with a faint breeze rustling the strings of your striped hoodie as the stranger watched from a safe distance away. It was long enough for you to complete two snow bunnies, a snow bear, and a snow turtle (which fell apart immediately after you put it down), all roughly small enough to fit in your palm. You set them all in a careful row beside the snow dog, adjusting their positions a few times. Once you felt it was adequate, you pushed yourself up with a wince and dusted off your gloves clumsily. When had your hands gone numb?

You finally turned and faced the stranger. They were still watching you intently. From here, you could see something beside them, just beyond their feet, but you couldn't make anything out besides the glint of glass. You faced one another silently for a few long moments, your gaze slack and almost curious, theirs nearly tense.

"human." They finally spoke, voice deep and almost gravelly, low and nearly soft. 

You chose not to say anything, just tilting your head a bit to indicate you'd heard. Monsters had a thing for calling humans by their species, you'd found. Names apparently didn't matter much.

"i'm Sans. Sans the skeleton." You dipped your head in some form of greeting. He was quiet a moment. "...what's your name, human?"

You told him. He nodded, almost to himself. 

"how're ya?" It seemed he wasn't sure what he was doing. Almost as if he was waiting for something. You contemplated it briefly.

"Cold." It hurt your throat to speak, you realized. Were you really that cold? Yes, you realized, you were; your eyes burned from the sting of the wind, and every breath scorched your lungs.

A cloud of warm air escaped him. You didn't think to wonder how. He looked... sympathetic?

"c'mere, pal," he extended a hand, standing upright now, "i'll make sure you get somewhere nice and warm." 

You glanced down at the extended hand, then back at his sockets. Without thinking, you stepped forward and reached out to grab his hand. His phalanges, smooth and white and oddly warm, gently grasped your glove as your hand touched his.

[ MERCY ] 

Something struck your sharply from behind, bursting through your skin in an explosion of pain and heat, forcing you to stagger abruptly forward. Sans caught you, propping you up whilst keeping a firm grip on your hand. You glanced down, oddly calm and feeling separate from your own body, and discovered peculiar white shards protruding through your chest and stomach. You tried to take a breath, but something wet and burning hit your lungs and you retched softly.

"try not to breath." 

Dazed, you lifted your gaze back to Sans as he shifted you in one arm, free hand smeared in red as he hovered it over your chest. His smile was certainly not happy now. 

A warm, fuzzy feeling tingled in your fingertips a moment, then a soft, peachy pink colored heart emerged from your chest and wavered under Sans' fingertips. He winced at it, and, careful not to touch it directly, adjusted it to hover gently above his palm. You stared at it, faintly bemused. Your body was turning steadily heavier, and it was making it hard to concentrate.

You thought you saw a flicker of blue in one of Sans' sockets, then something scraped wood and, a moment later, the something that had been behind Sans' feet glided to Sans' side and stayed there, suspended in thin air. 

He gazed sadly at the small, pink heart a moment, then guided gently into the large, glass chamber before clicking a lid back into place. The feeling of detachment intensified, and a new feeling surfaced; you were missing something important. 

Sans carefully shifted you back into two arms, though you could only feel a faint buzzing against your skin at this point. He set the large jar with the pink, softly glowing heart down on the bridge carefully, turning and walking deeper into the forest. 

"sorry, kid. guys gotta do what a guys gotta do."

He walked for a while. Or it could have been just a minute. Time was lost on you. Your vision was wobbling at the edges, slowly turning gray, as if the colors were leaking out. It hurt to breath, and your breathes came less and less automatically. You tried to flex your fingers to see if they were still there. Sans glanced down at you as he stopped in front of a tree. 

"i'm surprised you're still..."

He didn't finish the sentence. 

There was a gray flash, and large clumps and clods of dirt moved silently through the air to form a large heap nearby. Sans wasn't looking at you. He stared down, and rolling your head around, you realized there was a large, roughly rectangular hole in the ground at the base of a tree.

"i don't know much about how humans do it, but i have an idea. sorry it ain't flashy." 

He lifted his gaze away from the raw, gaping hole in the earth to stare at the tree. There was a faint hissing, scratch noise, and words scrawled themselves deeply into the bark. You though you spotted your name and a year and a jumble of words. Your vision was failing you faster and faster. The pain in your chest was replaced with a warm, fluttery fuzz pulsing steadily out, soon settling in your fingers and toes. Your eyelids were heavy. You began to dip into unconsciousness.

"... sorry, old lady."

You tried to jerk awake as you were moved again. Everything was dark and grey and smudged, but you stared up into Sans' face as he almost tenderly lowered you into a bed of stone and dirt. His eyes sought yours, as if looking for something. He retracted his hands; you saw it more than you felt it. 

"just... sleep."

Finally, your grip on the world slipped and you sank into deep, dark, bottomless nothingness. It was as if pitch black water rose to consume you and you sank into its soft, lukewarm depths. Sounds became muffled by its ever expanding presence, until you felt you had never existed at all.

Your last wish, faint as it was as you sank into the nether, was that you wondered if you could see if your snow sculptures had crumbled yet. 

 

[ RELOAD ]

[ RELOAD : YOUR FILES HAVE BEEN CORRUPTED. RELOAD ANYWAY ? ]

 

You were back. 

Beside the tree. You twisted in place, confused. How could you be standing here if you had just been lying...? 

You were standing atop a fresh churned hump of dirt at the roots of the tree, alright.

Wait, no. Not standing. Floating an inch or two above the soil. You flinched, driving yourself backward a few inches without meaning to. You moved as though through thin water, drifting gently through the air. You threw out your arms to steady yourself, and stiffened, slowly drawing your hands close again.

You were... translucent. Not 100% clear, no, but you could see the snowy ground through your palms. Upon frantically investigating the rest of your body, you discovered your attire suffered the same fate, though you could probably(?) peel off your jacket if you desired. 

You weren't cold anymore, you realized. 

In fact, you just felt a sort of faint hum everywhere. 

Had you... died? You had assumed so- so that's what death is like, you thought idly- but... How could you be here? No way were you a ghost. No way in the nine rings of...

'No way does magic exist,' some snide part of your mind whispered, ' no way is there an entire underground world full of monsters, no way did a skeleton in a blue hoodie kill you.'

A skeleton...

You glanced once more at the small hump in the ground, noticing for the first time the small, blue-burning candle stuck in the middle of it- glanced one more at your grave, you realized with a grimace- then turned and moved through the air back up the path you thought you'd come. 

You found Sans on the forest path, a little ways beyond the bridge. You drifted silently through the air a safe distance behind him- could you be killed twice? You didn't want to find out-, wondering where he was going. 

You had a whole eternity, assumably. You had no where else to be. 

You crushed down the rising scream in your throat- YOU HAD DIED, YOU WERE DEAD, YOU HAD BEEN KILLED, YOUR BODY HAD BEEN BURIED BACK THERE UNDER THAT TREE- and focused on the back of Sans' hood. He was trudging quietly along, head down, metal canister containing your pale pink heart under one arm, one hand balancing an array of small, sparkling white objects. Your sculptures, you realized. 

After a while, Sans entered a small, quiet town. Still, you loitered close behind him, trying to stay out of sight of the random townsfolk- again, dying twice didn't seem appealing- as a few called to him. He'd dip his head, but didn't stop to talk. A few monsters gave shouts of appreciation and gratitude and pride and some twisted form of glory, pointing out the canister containing your heart(?) to one another. A few applauded. A few looked grim. 

You passed a restaurant, food smells wafting out from inside. For the first time, you realized you weren't starving anymore. Your stomach coiled in nonexistent knots. Sans paused when there was a crackling call of his name, then turned and hesitantly trudged up to the restaurant. He didn't go inside. You hung back a few feet, trying to make yourself smaller. He was talking to a fire monster in a nice vest and glasses. 

You couldn't make out the fire monsters words.

"yeah. went over without a hitch." Sans' voice was low and hollow. You almost didn't catch it. The fire monster crackled some more, patting his shoulder. "don't worry about me, Grillbz. i'm just a tired ol' bag of bones in need of a nap." He chuckled, but it wasn't very convincing. Grillbz(?) pointed at something. "oh, these? nothin', just found 'em in the woods and thought they'd be worth keeping." Sans shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "i've gotta go. i'm a busy guy these days, y'know?" 

He chuckled again, waved, and turned to start walking through the town again. The fire monster stared after him. You watched the elemental a moment, then followed the skeleton.

You had no one else to follow.

Sans stopped at an empty house at the edge of town. You didn't follow him inside. When he came out again, he didn't have your sculptures anymore and his hands were clean.

Eventually, Sans boarded a boat with a shadowed, dark guide atop it. For a moment, you thought they might have spotted you as you drifted over to tail it- you hovered a few inches above the water, and if you focused, you could hang on to the knobby wood of the tail of the boat- but they simply hummed a small tune under their breath and turned away.

"Hotland."

"Tra la la. Apologies in post would better be no apologies at all."

Sans gave the Riverman a confused glance, but seated himself with his feet dangling above the water as the boat sprung into action. Your heart bobbed gently in the glass chamber as he rested a hand atop it to keep it in place.

Hotland was red and orange and you would have been hot if temperature still bothered you. As it was, you were aware of it, but not disturbed. You suppressed a shiver. 

Sans seemed to be made uneasy by the sight of the large metal structure up ahead. He took an elevator through it, and you felt faintly relieved that he didn't notice you board with him. He was too busy studying his shoes, apparently. His tapped his fingers softly against the glass chamber under his arm.

The city beyond was eerie and quiet, monotonous and gray. A few monsters stared intently at Sans as he passed. Some whispered. You tried to blend in against the walls as you tailed him.

Sans eventually veered off the path to descend a large staircase. In the room past the stairs was a line of gray, empty coffins. A part of you was glad he hadn't decided to take your body here; the coffins didn't look very comfortable. You suppressed a shiver and swallowed back a sting in your throat.

One of the coffins had a circular hole in the top. Sans hesitated beside it for several moments, shifting the large glass jar containing your heart uneasily in his hands. With a twist and heavy clunk, the cylinder sank into the hole. With a robotic hum, a pink heart appeared on the surface of the coffin. You stared down the row. There were six other coffins. Would six other humans turnout like you?

You stared down at your near translucent hands. You had a feeling not everyone would be so calm about this fate if it came down to it.

You followed Sans up and out of the coffin room and down another hallway. When he came to a long, golden hall, as soon as his feet met the amber tiles, he seemed to skip several hundred feet and appeared at the end as if by magic.

Magic. Ha.

You quickly glided after him, turning a corner just as he entered what appeared to be a throne room filled to the brim with buttercups. Off to one side, what you assumed to be another skeleton was gazing out a window; it was hard to tell just how tall or imposing they actually were, due to the shoulder pads tapering out to spikes resting on their shoulders. Could this be their throne room...? You hung back in the doorway, feeling a jitter shoot up your arm when you tried to place a hand on the frame and instead slid right through it.

"hey, Papyrus." Sans had a grin on now, hood down and hands in his pockets. He almost didn't look like the same character. The other skeleton turned, face bright with a grin. Were they... really the king? There was an almost childlike joy on their face.

"SANS!" His voice was bright and loud, if somewhat high pitched. "HOW DID IT GO? WHERE IS THE HUMAN?" 'Papyrus' glanced excitedly around, as if your body was hiding somewhere. You drifted sideways, huddling behind the doorframe.

"they had to go, but they gave me their soul before they set off. they're real sorry they couldn't meet such a cool king." Sans winked. He didn't want Papyrus to know he'd killed you. 

Soul? Was that what that pink heart was? It didn't answer a lot of questions, but it was nice to know. You got the feeling Sans couldn't have taken your soul if you'd been alive, and he didn't want Papyrus to know that, either. It almost seemed like brotherly protection from the world.

Could they be siblings...?

"OH..." Papyrus sounded disappointed. "I WAS HOPING..." He trailed off, looking out the window again. Your chest twinged softly, and you drifted out from your hiding place to hang idly in the doorway again.

"sorry, bro." Sans walked up and patted the taller skeleton softly on the back. "maybe next time." You had a feeling there wouldn't be a 'next time.' After a moment, Sans backed away. "i'm gonna be in the study if you need me."

"YES, OF COURSE..."

There was a pause. Something thick and palpable hung in the air between them. Sans sighed softly, turning and making for the door. As he grew closer, he glanced up and stopped abruptly. You realized too late that you had made no attempt to hide yourself this time. There was something dark and horrified in his sockets, and he stood rock solid for several long, tense seconds, small eye lights searching over your face with barely masked perturbation.

[ * you feel your sins crawling on your back. ]

After several seconds, he closed his eyes tightly and ducked his head, walking on as if you weren't there. 

You gazed after him, then drifted slowly after him. Maybe you couldn't die twice. Either way, he hadn't said or done anything, so it seemed you had nothing to fear from him for now. And you had nowhere else to be.

 

You followed Sans for a long time. At least, it felt long; time had no real meaning anymore, but it had to be a week or two, as he slept at roughly the same time every day. He was clearly aware of your presence- you sometimes caught his eye as he went about his day- but still, he didn't say anything or otherwise react. He sweat a lot, and the shadows beneath his sockets were darker, and he was often tense when you got close enough to see how rigid he was, but otherwise it seemed he was largely unchanged by your company.

He spent most of the day in a study of sorts, bent over a desk as he penned over paper after paper after paper. You took this time to drift around the room and gaze over the books lining the walls. You didn't read them, though you were tempted at times; you didn't know if you could support the book or even turn the pages, though leaves sometimes rustled softly if you shot past quickly enough. There was a fireplace in the study, off to one side, and you liked to spend time gazing into its depths, as the flames and smoke no longer hurt your eyes. Once, you experimentally stuck your hand into the midst of the flames to only receive a pleasant tingling. You thought you'd seen Sans flinch, but when you glanced up, he was focused on the papers in front of him.

Some days, he'd take a break and disappear to somewhere in the blink of an eye. Most of these times, you'd glance into the windows of Grillby's and find him sitting at the bar. You didn't have the guts- Ha.- to follow him inside. 

When darkness fell, he and the king would return to Snowdin and sleep in the cottage he'd gone into the day he'd... 

Don't think about it.

Always, they had spaghetti. It seemed to lift Papyrus' mood. It didn't look very appetizing to you, but then, you didn't have much appetite anymore. Sometimes, Sans would go home alone. These were the only times you followed him into the house. He would stare steadily downward as he ate when you sat across from him or drifted around and checked out the kitchen. Still, he didn't say anything to you. You began to wonder if he felt an obligation to let you hang around after he...

Don't think about it.

When he trudged upstairs to what you assumed was his room, you would leave. It felt rude to hang around when he wasn't awake. You spent nights wandering the underground. Despite their relatively productive atmosphere, there was a somberness that hung over the monsters. Some spoke of a previous human. Others spoke of the barrier. Others spoke of seven souls.

You had questions, but you figured you would find out in time. You had an eternity stretching out before you, after all. 

One day, you were kneeling in front of Sans' desk with your knees a few inches off the ground, head resting on your arms as he scribbling away at his paperwork- or, rather, Papyrus' work, you had realized a while before. There was something soothing about watching the pen make smooth loop-de-loops over the paper. 

Suddenly, you realized the pen had fallen still, pressing a dark dot into the paper. You blinked, then lifted your head. 

Sans was staring at you intently, gaze unreadable. His usual grin was a thin, taut line across his face, and there was something haunted about the look in his sockets. He gaze bore into yours, but still, he was silent. You gazed back, waiting. When a minute passed and still nothing happened, you tilted your head to indicate your curiosity. Suddenly, his grimace sharply deepened, and he dropped the pen to grind the heels of his palms against his sockets almost desperately. And, at last, he rasped out,

"stop looking at me like that! i know, i /know/! just leave me be!"

You blinked, 'standing' and drifting a foot or so away to give him space. Your voice sounded strange to you when you spoke; you had been quiet for so long. "Sorry."

He froze, then ripped his hands away from his sockets and stared at you as if seeing you for the first time. "... no. no way." There was disbelief, clear as water, in his voice. He lifted himself slightly from the seat, leaning forward almost eagerly. "say something else."

You blinked, vaguely confused. "Something else. Did I-"

"there is no way. you can't come back. humans don't..." He shook his head, grinding his palms against his eyes as he fell back into his seat. After a moment, he looked back up at you. Still, it was as if he couldn't believe his eyes. "are you... you're really that human, aren't you? (Y/N)." 

You nodded.

"just my luck that you'd find some way to..." He grimaced, suddenly ripping his gaze away. "er, kid, look... i'm sorry."

"It's okay." There was a different kind of disbelief in his eyes this time. "I didn't have much to live for anyway."

He winced, and dodged your gaze, staring intently out one of the windows.

"I can leave you alone. If that's what you want. I don't have anywhere else to be."

He hesitated, hesitated again, then shook his head stiffly. "...you're fine."

"Oh."

Silence. For some reason, the tension didn't bother you as much as it should have. 

"Hey, Sans."

"yeah."

"Why did you kill me?"

He recoiled as though someone had slapped him, sockets dark. "... we need seven human souls to break the barrier. when it came through that you were in Snowdin, there was no way i was going to let Papyrus have the responsibility of acting on the people's wishes. i had no other choice." 

It sounded like he was trying to convince himself as much as you. 

"Oh."

Silence.

"Is it the barrier that's keeping you underground?"

"yeah."

"Oh."

Silence. You realized his sockets were dark and empty. You realized he must have felt bad about killing you.

"No hard feelings?"

He chuckled, but it sounded hollow. "that's my line."

You drifted away, running your finger along the spine of a book. Sans didn't pick up the pen again. He stared emptily into space for a while.

"Hey, Sans."

"yeah."

"Never mind."

 

He still let you follow him around without a word against it after that. He seemed to pick up that you didn't want to be noticed by other monsters and apparently opted to keep quiet about you. Whether it was out of obligation or because he was just kind that way, you didn't know.

The relationship that developed between you and him was... an odd sort of friendship. He still apparently harbored guilt over what had gone down in Snowdin's woods and sometimes you'd say something and catch a rather disturbed expression cross his face, but you found you didn't mind his company. How he felt about you, however...

"Hey, Sans."

"yeah."

"How many humans have fallen? The other monsters act like a human came before me that did terrible things, but it looks like you only have my soul."

He was silent a moment. When you glanced up, his sockets were empty. "you're the ninth to fall. there was the queen and king's kid, whose soul couldn't be saved, then six more, whose souls were gathered, then an eighth that went through and killed. whether it was self defense or not, they killed the old king and took the six souls we'd had with them when they left."

"Oh."

Silence. The pen scratched against the paper. 

"I'm sorry."

A pause. The scratching continued. 

"Hey, Sans." 

A small sigh. "yeah."

"Never mind."

 

"How did I come back?"

"i guess you had enough Determination to come back somehow, one way or another."

"I wasn't very determined to keep on living."

"Determination is something in the human soul."

"Oh. So, do all humans come back as ghosts when their souls are gathered?"

"no. as far as i know, it's just you. there are monster ghosts, but i don't think you're the same."

 

"At least I won't have to worry about acne anymore. Or illness. Or sleeping. Or eating. Actually, I kind of liked eating. I think I might actually miss that one."

You glanced up. Sans was grimacing at the television.

"Sorry. No hard feelings."

 

"Hey, Sans."

"yeah."

"What did it feel like?"

"what did what feel like?"

"Killing me. Did it feel like anything? I'd always kind of wondered."

Sans' bones rattled softly. You frowned, realizing for the first time that your detachment from your... what happened in Snowdin's woods had made you rather tactless. While the subject was old news for you, you realized for the first time that Sans might not have that privilege. 

"like drowning in cold water." 

You hadn't realized silence had settled until he broke it.

"like forcing yourself to stick your hand in a spinning blender."

He stared out into nothingness. It took a moment of focusing, but you managed to give him a soft pat on the back. He jumped under your touch. You retracted your hand.

"Don't think about it too much."

 

You floated idly beside him as he cut an apple into slices. Could apples exist underground? Well, it looked like an apple. They probably had fruit substitutes underground, you reasoned. 

He sure did look tired, you realized. It was suddenly easy to overlook things like sleep and fatigue when you never felt the need for such things yourself. You crossed your legs, resting your head on your arms as you 'lay' on thin air beside his shoulder. Being able to relax wherever you wanted was pretty cool.

"looks like you're floating on cloud nine there." Sans chuckled, though it was short, as though he knew it wasn't his best. You smiled.

"I suppose. Maybe if I ever get to the surface, I can tell you what it's really like to lay on a cloud. Probably damp, more than anything." 

He picked up the pie pan as you tested just how much force it took to tip over the bottle of cinnamon. "so, you're stuck in here with us, then."

You mulled it over, waving your feet casually. "I suppose. Something just tells me to stay away from the walls of the underground. Like similar magnets, I guess."

"hm." He picked up a spatula. "do you miss it?"

"It?"

"the surface."

His voice was low and raspier now, as it usually was when he became down. 

"I don't know. There's not a lot to miss."

You hadn't thought about it.

"not the sun, the sky, the stars?"

"I can see those in my head if I think hard enough."

He snorted, but said nothing. "what about friends, family, people who would miss you?"

"There's not a lot to miss. I don't know if you noticed, but I was never very good with people." 

He chuckled. He seemed to like it whenever you cracked a sad excuse for a joke, but this time there was something odd about the laugh. He side eyed you a moment, then turned back to the pie. The oven buzzed.

 

"Knock knock."

He glanced up, surprised. You sat on the air in front of his desk, waiting. Finally, he broke into an amused smile and lowered his pen. "alright, i'll bite. who's there?"

"Doris."

He raised an eyebrow. "Doris who?"

"Door is locked, that's why I'm knocking." 

He chuckled, shaking his head. "that was bad, even by my standards."

"You laughed."

"what can i say, i'm a skeleton of poor tastes." He chuckled again, then sat back. "alright. knock knock." He mimicked you, rapping his knuckles against thin air. You smiled.

"Who's there?"

"a broken pencil."

"A broken pencil who?"

"never mind, it's pointless."

You laughed. It was a wonderful feeling you hadn't realized you'd missed; something had happened since that first day in the underground and now it felt like all your emotions were diluted and faint. Smiling and frowning were the most you could manage most of the time.

"Knock knock."

"who's there?"

"Mary Annabeth Louise."

"Mary Annabeth Louise who?"

"Just how many Mary Annabeth Louise's do you know?"

He chuckled again. Paperwork forgotten, he rapped at the air again. "knock knock."

 

"I like your brother. He's nice. And funny. Kind of loud."

"he likes everybody."

"I don't think I'm ready yet."

"if you say so. you're the boss of being invisible when you please, after all."

 

You spun slowly around a patch of tall, blue flowers. They whispered words you couldn't quite hear. You strained to pick them up anyway.

"So this is an echo flower?"

"yep."

"Do they really repeat everything you say?"

"try it and find out."

You stared down at the faintly glowing petals for another moment, then leaned closer. "Hello." 

' Hello... Hello... Hello... ' it whispered back. You smiled, getting an idea. You cupped your nonexistent hands around your mouth, leaning so close your lips would have brushed it had you been solid.

"King Midas has the ears of a mule, King Midas has the ears of a mule, King Midas has the ears of a mule." You whispered to it. You pulled away and waited.

' King Midas has the ears of a mule... King Midas has the ears of a mule... King Midas has the ears of a mule... ' 

First the one, then the next, then the next, and more and more in an ever growing ring caught the line, until the air was filled with their little secret. You smiled, pulling away and clasping your hands pleasantly. When you turned to follow Sans again, he was eyeing you confusedly. 

"what does that mean?"

You drifted over and hovered at his shoulder, toying with one of the strings of your hoodie absently. "It's from an old human story."

"tell me about it."

 

"I didn't know you had a dog."

The round cottonball with legs edged out of the way when you approached, the fur along its spine lifting. Sans glanced over, then back at the television.

"he comes around every so often." 

You reached a hand out toward the dog. It backed up half a step, then yapped. You held still a moment, then reached out further. It growled softly, then struck forward, snapping its teeth together through your fingers. You pulled your hand away, unharmed, but with a fresh twinge in your chest. For the first time in a while, you frowned. The walls sent a jitter up your spine as you slipped through them and out into the cold, welcoming air outside. You wanted to be anywhere but there.

 

"you're back."

"Yes."

"i figured you'd had enough of this old bag of bones."

"You're my only friend. I have nowhere else to go."

"oh, so you only hang around me because i'm the only option? gee, i'm so touched."

"I like your company. Your jokes aren't bad, either."

"you hardly ever laugh."

"I never liked my laugh very much."

"kid, you're dead. what have you got to lose?"

As soon as what he'd said sank in, Sans' jaw snapped shut. Silence fell. 

"sorry."

"It's okay. It doesn't bother me."

"bothers me."

"It shouldn't. I'm not really missing anything."

Sans winced.

"No hard feelings."

"why did you climb Mt. Ebott, then?"

You glanced up. Sans seemed to regret the words, staring intently out one of the windows again.

"don't humans have a legend? all the humans who climb Mt. Ebott never return... or something."

You gazed out one of the windows as well, drifting over to stand beside it. "I was looking for something."

"...did you find it?"

"No. But it doesn't matter now, anyway."

 

You floated after Sans as he trudged through Snowdin, a bundle tucked in one hand. You'd tried to peek at it several times, but always he would tsk and shake his head in a bemused way, batting your hand away even though his phalanges ghosted clean through your fingers.

Ghosted. Heh.

"I thought you had work today."

"i'm going in a bit late."

"Why?"

"keep hanging around and you'll find out."

You leaned back until you were upright, floating down close enough so your feet could almost touch the ground and making the usual 'walking' movements with your legs, more out of habit than necessity.

"Don't the townsfolk think you're weird? Talking to thin air, I mean."

"let them think. it's not the weirdest thing i've done."

"Then what would be?"

"you ever tried fried snow before?"

"That sounds physically impossible."

The walk was companionable. The woods of Snowdin were familiar to you now. You were getting closer to the Ruins than you had been in a while when Sans spoke up again.

"you don't have to come, y'know. you can always go back."

"I'm curious."

He didn't respond.

Suddenly, he veered off the path and into the trees. You bobbed after him as he weaved through the trees. A wild rabbit took off into the undergrowth as you approached. Sans stopped, and you nearly slid into him. Too late, you realized where you were.

You stared down at the heap of earth. Atop it was a fresh dusting of snow, though there was a ring of untouched earth around the still-burning candle. You lifted your gaze and for the first time read the words etched into the tree,

[ (Y/N)  
THE NINTH TO HAVE FALLEN DOWN  
MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON US ALL  
20XX ]

You traced your name with a finger, accidentally dipping a finger into the bark when Sans moving distracted you. He unwrapped the bundle, revealing four rock solid pieces of ice. He placed them gently in a ring around the candle, sockets empty. Your sculptures. You blinked. He'd kept them all this time.

How long had it been?

"Why?" You finally broke the dangerously still silence.

He shrugged, shuffling away from the grave. Your grave. "figured it'd been a while. finally finished polishing those up, anyway, so i thought..." He shrugged again.

"How long has it been?"

"a year, give or take a few days."

"That long?"

"mm."

You gazed into the soothing blue flame, willing it to strengthen every time it flickered.

"The candle?"

"ever-burning candlesticks. a memorial for monsters who've passed. normally you put them in the windows of the home that belonged to the monster that passed, or your own if you lived with them. after a week has passed, they go above the fireplace, if you have one. they're kept until the lighter has passed, and even then someone else might inherit them."

"Neat."

Silence. Thick, heavy silence. Not a breeze stirred the air. It was as though the whole world was holding its breath.

"why did you climb Mt. Ebott?"

You stared down at the soil. Several feet below the surface, your body lay cradled in stone and dirt and roots. 

"I had a dog." Sans winced, as if he knew what was coming. "He was my everything. The whole reason I got up in the morning. I kept telling myself, 'if I were to die, he would miss me and I can't have that.' Then he went missing. Ran away.

"I got desperate. The only thing I could figure was that he'd climbed Mt. Ebott and got lost. So, naturally, I hopped my fence one night and started to climb."

"you didn't find him."

"No. But I hope someone else did. He deserves to be happy."

"what was his name?"

You smiled despite yourself.

"Snowball."

Something warm glided down your cheek. You flinched when something else- something solid- brushed it away. You tore your gaze from your grave to look at Sans, surprising yourself when you found your chest was tight. Sans studied your face with an expression akin to guilt, then brushed another warm trail away with a thumb, and for once he didn't phase right through you.

Tears. For the first time in an eternity, you were crying.

 

"I'm not sad that I died."

Sans flinched, looking everywhere but at you. "eesh, what a conversation starter."

"You had that look on your face again. You were thinking about it."

He sighed. "alright, you caught me. still..."

"It would have happened eventually." You hummed, gaze drifting from his to a window over his shoulder. "At least this way it served some kind of purpose."

"geez, don't say that."

"Sorry. It's just..."

"just what?"

"I don't know." You hovered a hand over one of his, hesitated, then pulled it away. "I'm just kind of glad, in a way, that it resulted in me being your friend." You paused. "That is, if you'll have me as such."

He chuckled, and extended and hand, palm up. You lifted a hand, hesitated, then focused hard before gingerly placing your hand in his. His phalanges, warm and smooth against your translucent skin, grasped softly around your fingers. The embrace was small, but it meant more than words could express.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heavily implied dissociated reader is heavily implied to be dissociated *ding!*
> 
> ,, that was a reference forgive me I'm tired as hecc 
> 
> The idea was like, 'what if a human fell that was determined, but not determined enough?' Thus ghost and pink soul??? Idk man
> 
> Anyway I hope you guys enjoyed this??? I couldn't stop thinking about writing something like this so,,


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